The deadliest incident occurred at the British Officers' Club in Jerusalem which was bombed and subsequently became the site of a gunfight: twenty people were killed.
The British High Commissioner implemented martial law the following day in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, the declaration affected civil services and governing.
[6] In a secret order on 10 February, which represented a change in tactics, the Zionist militant organization Irgun considered everyone British an enemy, no matter what position they held.
[6] The security measures led to Arab unrest in the Mandate and an increase in purchases of black market goods–an "indication of preparations for trouble".
[1] Eight incidents took place on the day; the militants made use of land mines, mortars, and explosives to destroy military vehicles, installations, and personnel.
[9] A Jewish girl who was the receptionist[10] and twelve British officers were killed when militants, some wearing police uniforms,[11][12] under the cover of machine gun fire raided the building, planted and detonated explosives, and subsequently engaged in a gunfight.
On 2 March, martial law was declared in Tel Aviv and nearby Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Givatayim, and Petah Tikva, the Sharon plain, and in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea Shearim, Sanhedria, Kerem Avraham, Geula, and Bukhara.
[1] However, martial law was also in fact imposed as a form of collective punishment against the Yishuv over its failure to cooperate with the British against the Irgun and Lehi, as it was expected that it would cause economic pain for the civilian population.
[16] Later that week, British troops shot and killed two Jews in Jerusalem, including a four-year-old girl who was standing on the porch of her home in Mea Shearim.
[22] Ben-Gurion complained that the curfew was having a serious negative impact on the economy and public services, arguing that the effect risked creating sympathy for the cause of terrorism among the general population.
In Tel Aviv, British troops with orders to shoot curfew violators on sight shot at pedestrians and motorists out on legitimate business.
[25] The military estimate was that martial law was ineffective, -in failing to make a dint into terrorism, that they lacked the means to maintain the curfew much longer, and soldiers were being tied down in administrative duties which hampered operational readiness.